The 2012 New Year's Concert with the Vienna Philharmonic
Orchestra (VPO) conducted by Latvian Mariss Jansons was his
second appearance as conductor of the now legendary event. Jansons’s
first New Year's Concert in 2006 garnered much acclaim
but he was no stranger to the VPO as it was back in 1992 when
Jansons first conducted them. The 2012 programme consisted of
24 scores - the perennial mix of familiar classics and unknown
gems with six works receiving their New Year’s Concert première.

Originating in 1939 under the baton of Clemens Krauss more than
seven decades ago and held in the stunning Golden Hall of the
Vienna Musikverein there cannot be many music-lovers who don’t
realise the exalted reputation of the annual New Year's
Day Concert. Traditionally the programme is of an upbeat character
consist of waltzes and polkas, with gallops, quadrilles, mazurkas
and marches taken from the huge repertoire of the Strauss family
and their contemporaries. The immense international popularity
never seems to diminish with television broadcasts watched in
over 70 countries by an audience estimated at 50 million. Some
Golden Hall seats are pre-registered for the concert by Austrian
families and are passed down from one generation to another.
Not surprisingly concert tickets are like gold dust. In addition
the phenomenal success of André Rieu and his Johann Strauss
Orchestra has created a resurgence in interest in the music
of the Strauss family.

The 2012 concert opened with a New Year première, the Patriotic
March a joint effort from brothers Johann Strauss II (1825-1899)
and Josef Strauss (1827-1870). This sturdy and masculine score
quotes material from the ever popular Radetzky March
by their father Johann Strauss I (1804-1849). The City Hall
Ball Dances that Johann Strauss II wrote to mark the occasion
of the first ball held in Vienna’s new Town Hall in 1890 were
gratifying. This swinging waltz combines music borrowed from
Johann’s own By the Beautiful Blue Danube and Haydn’s
celebrated Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser - at one time
adopted as the national anthems of Austria and Germany. I enjoyed
the attractive Viennese Citizens waltz by Viennese
composer Carl Michael Ziehrer (1843-1922) - a real audience
pleasing score - and the thoroughly rousing and virtuosic Diabolic
Dance by the former leader and principal conductor of the
VPO, Joseph Hellmesberger Jr. (1855-1907). Fresh to the New
Year’s Concert was the Copenhagen Steam Train Galop
by the Dane Hans Christian Lumbye (1810-1874). It’s a fascinating
piece, high on thrills including whistle and train effects.
Two works surprisingly receiving their New Year’s Concert debuts
were the melodious Panorama and the appealing Waltz
from Tchaikovsky’s celebrated Sleeping Beauty. Eduard
Strauss (1835-1916), another son of Johann Strauss, wrote the
appealing and melodious Carmen Quadrille containing
music based on themes from Bizet’s Carmen. Other pieces
that I especially enjoyed were the Persian March for
its memorable and foot-tapping melodies and the fast and furious
Thunder and Lightning polka both by Johann Strauss
II. There’s also the nightmarish shenanigans of the Delirium
waltz by Joseph Strauss.

Appearing in each half of the concert the Vienna Boy’s Choir
conveyed their youthful enthusiasm and style in Tritsch-Tratsch,
the fast polka by Johann Strauss II and the French polka Fireproof
from Josef Strauss. Feuerfest saw Mariss Jansons playing
the anvil with such vigour that I feared for his health; which
has been a real problem for the conductor in the recent past.
Given as encores to bring the concert to its traditional conclusion
were the second and first most performed works in the history
of the New Year Concerts. If you haven’t already guessed they
were the majestic waltz An der schönen blauen Donau
by Johann Strauss II a musical postcard of Vienna and the rousing
Radetzky March by Johann Strauss I.

Throughout Jansons conducts the VPO with a real Straussian lilt
and provides unfailing charm and sparkling exuberance in the
marches, galops and polkas. This music could be said to run
through the orchestra’s veins they know it so well. It is the
player’s palpable enthusiasm that prevents the music coming
across as over-familiar. I watched the splendid television broadcast
live on New Year’s morning. Some people have commented in the
press that there seemed to be no women in the orchestra. I could
see two or three women players but the camera-work did not make
this easy. The accompanying booklet contains an informative
essay from Dr. Clemens Hellsberg president of the Vienna Philharmonic
Orchestra. For some unknown reason the track timings are not
indicated on the release. I have provided the timings which
include audience applause. Really satisfying sound quality adds
to the enjoyment of these stirring and winning performances.

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